I often have blood center executives ask me how they'll benefit from co-sourcing. They've typically thought through the reduced cost and increased performance, but many times forget about the extra skills and capacity they'll gain from the right partner.

There are five main skills your blood center can pick up through co-sourcing with the right partner that you probably haven't thought about. Keep reading to find out what!

Technology

The right co-sourcing partner will help you with report writing, call efficiency, data mining, predictive modeling and list segmentation beyond what you are getting from your in-house team or your CRM provider.

Right now your internal center looks at their internal results. With the full power of an extensive technology team, you should be looking at more than just tele-recruitment numbers. They should be looking at inventory that’s integrated with calling so you know exactly what blood types are needed at what centers on which day of the week. They should know not to call the O- donor that they’ve attempted 7 times, because the donor has never answered the phone. At some point, that donor is going to pick up and ask that you stop calling. The right technology team will be mining through your database to give you a list of donors that always say yes and schedule an appointment, but the last 15 times they’ve done so, they haven’t shown up. Let’s not call them and try a different approach!

Script Writing

Crafting the right message is a great way to acknowledge the donor's behavior and increase the chances that donor honors their commitment. The message for the donor described above could read as follows:

“Hey, I know we’ve scheduled you a few times and you’ve been unable to make it in. Let’s work together to find a time that works with your schedule so you can make it.”

In general, script writing is a science. There are very specific words you should use and words to stay away from. The length of the script is also imperative. If your team is not trained in proper script writing and you don’t have the skill to teach them, you could gain efficiencies by partnering with someone to provide those skills.

Regulation Expertise

Blood center executives know all too well about FDA regulations, but how well do you keep up on FCC and FTC regulations? Contact centers are heavily regulated by state and federal laws, and keeping up with them and all of the changes is nearly a full time job.

Are you compliant?

Just last week a ban was issued on calling in Louisiana due to the flooding, and it includes blood donor recruitment with some exceptions.

While it may not impact you directly, my point is, were you aware of the ban? Would you have known if it were your state? I hate to think that our wonderful industry, where all we are trying to do is save lives, could come under scrutiny for our calling practices, but the truth is, the legislation is already in place and we have to follow it. If we don’t, we can face penalties and litigation.

If you feel inadequate in the legislative area of operating an internal call center, it may be time to consider co-sourcing.

Quality Assurance

As with regulation, you also have an internal quality assurance department. But in the call center world, QA has a much different meaning.

Quality control in a contact center ensures quality phone calls. Proper QA requires digital recording of all phone calls. It means trained professionals listening to and grading calls. It means one-on-one coaching of your agents to improve performance. It is more than having a supervisor. It is, by definition, dedication to excellence.

Future Focused Communication

You need to have 15 – 20 different choices in communication for your donors if you are going to bridge the generational gap and appeal to your entire donor base. Your baby boomers may be answering their phones and coming in to donate, but other segments of your donor base are looking for Pandora advertisements, Instagram posts, Facebook ads, and Snapchat stories. They want chat on your website, and to text to schedule or cancel an appointment.

In short, you need to be everywhere your donors are, and if you don’t have skills internally that can tell what Kik is and how to use it to recruit blood donors, it may be time to look into a co-sourcing partner that can help.

Conclusion

Deciding to co-source means so much more than reducing costs and increasing performance. It truly means that you are able to dedicate your blood center to reaching a higher standard for your donors - innovative technology, science-driven script formulation, regulation expertise, commitment to quality, and future-focused communication make a difference.